United States – Page 10

November 27, 2011November 27, 2011

Jean-Philippe Pâtisserie Bellagio

From last time I went to Vegas, I discovered Jean Philippe Patisserie, and I knew I had to go back. I went back everyday this time, and I don’t regret the extra sugar at all! It’s a wonderful place to go to get delicious baked goods and sweets! This time, I even went to the Jean Philippe at Bellagio, where there is the tallest chocolate fountain, and it was amazing!

After reading some reviews when I got home last time, someone told me that the Jean Philippe Crepes was a must try item, so I had to try it this time. It was a fun experience as they make it in front of you after you order. I ordered a Dulce de Leche Crepe which was a crepe with dulce de Leche caramel sauce, and then topped with chocolate shavings and whipped cream! I didn’t eat it there, I brought it back to my hotel room to enjoy, so it fell apart a little by the time I got it back. But, it tasted wonderful!

The crepe for the most part was in good condition, all except the whipped cream that started to slide off and was half melted as the crepes was hot when I got it. It was good that it was quite cool outside in Vegas so it didn’t do any further damage.

Once I got my fork through the crepe, I knew I was going to love this dessert! The texture of the crepe was warm, soft and chewy with a very subtle sweetness to the crepe itself. I’ve had crepes where it was hard and just not very pleasant, but this one alone was decadent! The batter was perfection and with the Dulce de Leche Caramel Sauce inside, it was really good!

I believe if I ate this on location, the warm caramel sauce would have oozed out a bit and made it even more wonderful – but this is a good excuse to go back next time! 🙂 From this Bellagio location, I bought also a Cinnamon Bun and saved it for breakfast the next morning. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it as I love cinnamon buns.

Jean-Philippe Pâtisserie

3600 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas
(702) 693-8788

November 26, 2011May 11, 2019

Fiamma Trattoria – Las Vegas, Nevada

We were staying at the MGM Grand Resort & Casino, and didn’t want to venture out too far one evening. We actually wanted to try Nobhill by Michael Mina, but they were closed, along with Seablue by Michael Mina. So, we opted for Fiamma Trattoria on Studio Walk inside the MGM Grand.

Fiamma is an Italian restaurant, and in the past, they have been a 4 Diamond AAA Recipient from 2006 – 2010. This restaurant does feature a delicious and large selection of items on the menu. I ordered the Grilled Atlantic Salmon and it was cooked to a perfect medium as requested. The salmon wasn’t tough or fishy but it was tender and flaky. A large piece of salmon portion was on the plate, and it was sitting on a bed of vegetables which was sauteed zucchini and peppers. On the side, there was a dipping sauce that was a parsley and chive sauce with lots of lemon juice in it! The acidity was really nice to balance out the salmon, and the fresh vegetables. This dish was absolutely fine and I would order it again!

Our table also had the Roasted Petaluma Chicken which came on a large plate with chicken stacked up to sky high! There were 2 large pieces of roasted chicken, roasted to perfection as it was super tender and juicy and fall off the bone goodness. These pieces of chicken rested on a tall bed of sauteed swiss chard, roasted fingerling potato – cut up into smaller pieces. This entire plate was then drizzled with the sauce from roasting the chicken and was really a great home cooked meal masterpiece!

Finally, we ordered a plate of Fettuccine, and custom ordered our to use Alfredo Sauce instead of the Basil Pesto sauce that is stated on the menu. It was delicoius and this bowl of pasta had Santa Barbara Spotted Prawns, which were extremely large prawns, sweet, crispy, fresh and awesome!

The food from Fiamma was really good, portion sizes was large, service was excellent and the prices was very reasonable! It’s a place I wouldn’t mind going back to and even taking family and friends. They’re only opened for dinner, so be sure to book a dinner here one day!

Fiamma Trattoria

3799 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 891-1111

November 26, 2011November 27, 2011

Lupo – Wolfgang Puck

Dinner in Vegas is always interesting, but we made it over to the Mandalay Bay Resort where we decided to eat at Wolfgang Puck‘s first Italian Restaurant called Trattoria del Lupo. We didn’t make any reservations, but the wait was about 30 minutes – which isn’t bad considering last time we went to Vegas, we had to have reservations for every dinner place we ate at – otherwise, they had nothing available! The dining room at Lupo was quite large, and they were able to squish a lot of tables in to accommodate a lot of seating.

Our first impression when we finally got in was it was quite dark and romantic. It was interesting as we sat at the tables behind the bar, and the hostess had to ull out the table to let us sit into the banquettes – and then after seated, they pushed the table back in.

Lupo - Breadsticks with white bean sauce and roasted garlic in evoo

The service was great, and after we were seated, we were brought our drinks and awesome Breadsticks. The breadsticks were really thin and long, and from the look, you can immediately tell they were home-made. These long crispy breadsticks was accompanied with roasted garlic and olive oil dip and white bean sauce. It was really fun to break off pieces of this delicious bread and dip into either sauce.

The dinner entrees was excellent! I ordered the Bucatini all’ “Amatriciana” which was house made pasta with roasted onions, pancetta, tomatoes, chili flakes, basil and pecorino. Pecorino would be sheep or ewe’s milk cheese (a hard cheese), and even though I thought it would be strong, they didn’t use a lot, so the dish was perfectly balanced, especially with the saltiness of the pancetta. This dish was excellent, the texture of the pasta was really good, and all the ingredients was fresh – and the plate of pasta just seemed really light. It was one of the best pasta dishes I’ve had in a long time – if not ever!

The other entrees we enjoyed was Scialatielli “Ai Quattro Passi” which was also house made thick noodle pasta but with “Quattro Passi”, sausage bolognese, cream, basil and Parmesan cheese. This is a much heavier pasta dish that really fills you right up – not only was it a nice meaty dish with the sausage bolognese, but it had a nice thick cream sauce. The flavours of the meat sauce was so hearty and excellent, it really was a dish to remember!

Finally, the last dish was not a pasta dish, but it was Filetto d’Agnello which was marinated bone-in lamb loin with garlic spinach, chanterelle mushrooms, tomatoes and Gorgonzola cheese.

Overall, we were extremely satisfied with Lupo and will be returning in the near future as they were able to provide us with great food, great service and all for a really great price! We were really shocked about the quality and the portion size from Lupo, so we have no negative thoughts to tell you about!

Trattoria del Lupo

3950 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas
(702) 740-5522

November 25, 2011March 24, 2019

BBQ King – Las Vegas, Nevada

Chinese food is no longer a specificity in Las Vegas. We use to go to a Chinese location that was closer to the South end of the strip, and now there seems to be a lot of new options. We came by BBQ King for a quick late lunch, and the place seems quite reasonable! The location of this restaurant is a stand alone building in a strip plaza – so there was a lot of parking spaces and made it easy to get in and out of the parking lot.

I ordered the Beef Stomach with Ho Fun and it was actually on special for $4 only! The portion size didn’t seem any smaller, or if it is, then they have large bowls of noodles!

Another noodle dish that we ordered was a Hong Kong Style Wonton Noodles and these were pretty decent! The best part is, it was also on special for $4! You really can’t complain for a nice hot bowl of noodles for less than what you’d pay for a fast food hamburger combo. The wontons was quite large in size, and it was stuffed with a large piece of shrimp and just a little bit of pork to bind. Sure, the bowl only had 5 of them, but at least it was cheap in price and the quality was there!

After 2 soup dishes, and still wanting “noodles”, we decided to order a lo mein, which is basically taking the wonton noodles and not putting it in the soup, but instead you’re mixing it with flavours of the soup (on the side). This makes for a drier noodle dish and the soup helps mix it. To mix something is called lo in Chinese, so essentially, you’re just mixing the noodles. Anyway, we tried tried Pork and Vegetable Lo Mein from BBQ King and a large plate of noodles came out. The soup wasn’t on the side as they did the mixing for us already. There was a lot of pieces of pork mixed throughout the noodles and vegetables almost as a garnish. The lo mein was really good and flavourful even though it didn’t look like much. They did their lo mein with oyster sauce, sesame oil and of course the soup – and this is quite standard for lo mein. Overall, this noodle dish was delicious even though standard.

Finally, realizing that we needed another vegetable dish, something interesting caught our eye when we saw a dish Fermented Bean Curd with cooked Lettuce. The title is the direct translation of the actual dish, as I have no idea what they called it on the menu (I didn’t see or pick it). Usually when we order the cooked lettuce, it comes cooked and flavoured with oil and oyster sauce. This one was a little more unique as they used the fermented tofu and I quite enjoy the flavour of it. It was subtle and added another dimension of flavour that I wasn’t use to in cooked lettuce.

This is a very decent restaurant especially when it came to portion size and price. There isn’t anything too special – as it doesn’t deviate from the normal Chinese food, but it was good food! Definitely a place I would return to if I was in the area and wanting Chinese food quickly and inexpensively!

BBQ King

5650 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 364-8688

November 25, 2011April 4, 2012

MGM Grand Tower Deluxe King Suite

Recently, I went to Las Vegas for a very short get-away and I stayed at the MGM Grand Resort right on the Strip. It’s closer to the South end, but it was a nice location regardless!

The immaculate detailing of the hotel room itself, let alone the rest of the resort was great! The suite was tastefully decorated and the use of their signature Lion Head symbol throughout the hotel was great!

One of my favourite features of the room, that is slightly useless – but wonderful would be the light on top of the TV Armoire! When you open up the doors it would expose the TV, and there is a little push button that says “LIGHT” and it illuminates the top of the armoire. I chose to use this light while I was out of the hotel room, so when I return, it wouldn’t be pitch black. It was a great alternative as I didn’t need to turn on all the lights.

The bathroom was really large, and the shower was a low tub walk in bath with a shower faucet. The low tub really makes it accessible for those guests with limited mobility – even though I did bang my arm on the handrail that was on the shower walls a few times, it is a necessary feature for hotel & resort bathrooms. The tub area was tiled with large tiles and enhanced with smaller and darker tiles that really gave a modern feel to the bathroom. The sink area offered a lot of counter top space and room for you to sprawl out if you wanted to. Or, if you were rooming for other people, it made it easy for everyone to have their belongings out and still have room to work with.

MGM Grand Tower Deluxe King Bathroom Amenities

The bathroom amenities is one of my favourite memories of this resort. They are all Jasmine scented and when you wash your hands or anything like that, you immediately get a subtle scent of Jasmine – which reminds me of the Jasmine Tea that I drink at home. It was really heavenly scent that wasn’t over powering in any way. The soap that they use in the shower was a lovely Jasmine scented body massage bar, so it actually had the beads built into the soap. It was a nice touch and much appreciated after long walk up and down the strip to increase circulation.

The room is quite spacious and it has a wonderful lounging area with a large canape but a lot like a chaise longue. It was really nice and it added dimension and visual interest to what could be your “standard” hotel room. The room also had a large desk and the working surface was huge! I was able to have my laptop out and some of my work – and I didn’t feel cluttered at all! This is a great hotel room and even though it’s already not my first time there, I would be back again! The bed was large and luxurious and very comfortable. I’d fall asleep in no time with a king bed complete with 4 king sized pillows! The comforter was the right size and thickness and everything was really clean!

I booked myself my stay online with Las Vegas Hotel Casino Deals, and it was wonderful! My last stay in Vegas, I stayed at the Aria Resort & Casino, and it was another wonderful experience!

The room in MGM Grand doesn’t have as many in room amenities as some other resorts. This room did have an in-suite safe which was large enough to fit my laptop, and all the belongings I needed locked up. The room didn’t have a mini fridge which would have come handy as I did want to bring some left over dinners with me this one evening. The high speed internet that you pay for with the room classified under “Resort Fee” was super slow. I would understand if it was free and slow, but it was a slow and choppy internet which I wasn’t really happy about. But, I guess when you’re in Vegas, you’re not in your room a lot. I was wanting to update my blog throughout the trip so I could stay on top of things but I had to revert to making a list and doing it when I got home because of the internet problem. The hotel wasn’t super busy until Wednesday (Right before American Thanksgiving & Black Friday), so it wasn’t like there were a lot of guests connected onto the internet.

The housekeeping staff was excellent as well. They kept my room clean, and fulfilled all my requests! The towers were big and fluffy, and it was just a great stay overall!